Utilities

Episode 3 :: Hot water wastage - transcript

Hi, when it comes to running your home, there’re always a few hidden costs. Like…

Jared stops by a cupboard and opens it – it’s the hot water cylinder cupboard.

Water heating! It’s about 30% of your energy bill.

Jared closes the hot water cylinder door and walks to the bathroom. He goes into the bathroom and we see that the bath is full, Jared holds up a substantial amount of bank notes – around $200.

A lot of that …

Jared drops the notes into the bath, and pulls the plug the water starts going down the plughole. We see money literally going down the drain, first through the plughole and then through transparent pipes beneath the bath. Jared continues:

… is money down the drain. You could be wasting hundreds of dollars a year!

Jared turns to us and continues, he says:

Luckily, there are ways to save energy but still have the hot water you need.

Jared walks over to a bathroom tap and says:

Check the hot water temperature at the tap. If its more than 55 degrees it’s unsafe, and you could be using more energy than you need to.

Baseline super: 40% of homes have dangerously hot water [Logos: Safety Begins At Home logo and ACC logo]

We cut to see the water cylinder and pipes being wrapped, over this we hear Jared says:

Here’s a tip – wrap your hot water pipes. If you have an older electric cylinder wrap that too.

Baseline super: Pipe and cylinder wraps available from hardware stores.

Jared indicates the bath and shower as he says:

Showers and baths use the most hot water, so visit energywise.govt.nz for ways to make energy savings here.

Baseline super: www.energywise.govt.nz

Now Jared’s in the kitchen, he’s over by the sink as he says:

A dripping hot tap wastes energy.

Jared turns to us. He sums up by saying:

Heating water is a big part of our country’s energy bill. If we all saved just 10% we could save millions. See you next time.